Maedhros wrote:That said I really do hope that if you ever make another (which I hope you do) you'd be more than one judge so that you won't get these absurd delays just because one person has problems. I'm afraid this contest really made my esteem for this site sink quite a bit...

You know, I've been chewing on these two sentances for a while now, and I just have to say something.

Is your esteem for this website really so easily wavered? For all the hundreds and hundreds of hours the admins put into Classic-Castle, both in front of and behind the scenes, the long delay in this hard to grade contest due to matters going on in someone's real life has caused you to lose respect?

For all the heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears we, the founders and admins, have put into this website, you lose respect for our years of dedication over this?

I would expect much more from AFOLs and the members of this website; to have patience and respect for someone who has devoted so much time to this website as Lenny has. To have understanding for what life changes he is going through. I know first hand just about everthing Lenny is working through these past and future months, and I know just how much time can be sapped away so easily.

It's statements like these that make me question why we should continue devoting our time and energy into these contests.

--Tony

Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day.Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

I quite agree Sava. Classic-Castle is my favorite lego site. I like it better than CSF in many ways, and, I love the story oriented program here. I feel that without Ikros, Glencer, and the story contest, the story forum may not exist. I know how much work it takes being an admin, (I am an admin on two other forums), and its A LOT of work. Deleting spammers, showing people to the right forum, making rules and TOS, making new forums, ect....
So what if a relatively small contest is taking a while... family matters and personal stuff come far before hosting a lego contest. He did say that he had some things holding him back, and I am quite patient enough to wait and see winners. I say that Sava is right entirely, and a simple contest should not de-grade this forum.

EDIT: The way Lenney replied to a somewhat offensive post was quite mature. A new life coming into the Earth Mehedros, is far more impotent that your annoyance of a long wait.

P.I

Thomas C."Sow a thought, reap an action;Sow an action, reap a habit.Sow a habit, reap a character.Sow a character, reap a destiny"

Maedhros wrote:That said I really do hope that if you ever make another (which I hope you do) you'd be more than one judge so that you won't get these absurd delays just because one person has problems. I'm afraid this contest really made my esteem for this site sink quite a bit...

If anything, the delay has given me more faith in Classic-Castle. I've seen posts on FBTB and Classic-Space where forum members are whining and/or demanding results the minuet the entries are in. My respect for the members of this site and their polite, mature responses has grown immesurably.

Very nice to see this contest all wrapped up.
I too, am very grateful to have won. (My first contest win, too!)
There were some great entries, and I'm happy to see see that both Steve and Jim's entries won, I enjoyed reading both of them.

Thanks Lenny, for putting this contest together. It really inspired me to give writing a try. And I had alot of fun cominig up with my comic, and my story, even if I never got done with it in time.

Although it took me forever to judge, this won't be the last story contest. I really love the concept of LEGO story telling and want to see more of them. That's really good to hear. I'd love to participate in the next contest!

Thanks Lenny for running this contest. It is hard to be patient sometimes, but the rewards are that much nicer for the wait. Now that the judging is complete I don't have any excuse to put off fixing the errors in my story and incorporating the good comments I have received.

Well now, I realize that I may be a bit biased here, but I would urge all to have a bit of patience and understanding on both sides of the table... Maedhros has, of course a right to briefly state his feelings, and Tony did answer them fully and well... but lets not all pile up on one side or the other, yes?

The contest a first for CC, and was a great idea, had great entries, and had some great prizes.

A new life coming into the Earth Mehedros, is far more impotent that your annoyance of a long wait.

Stuff like this from members is not really helping anyone (Sorry, I don't mean to pick on you PI, just grabbed the first quote I saw).

PEACE among CC!

And of course, thanks to the judge~

Knight Templar n. pl. Knights Templars or Knights Templar1.A member of an order of knights founded about 1118 to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land during the Second Crusade.

Maedhros wrote:That said I really do hope that if you ever make another (which I hope you do) you'd be more than one judge so that you won't get these absurd delays just because one person has problems. I'm afraid this contest really made my esteem for this site sink quite a bit...

You know, I've been chewing on these two sentances for a while now, and I just have to say something.

Is your esteem for this website really so easily wavered? For all the hundreds and hundreds of hours the admins put into Classic-Castle, both in front of and behind the scenes, the long delay in this hard to grade contest due to matters going on in someone's real life has caused you to lose respect?

For all the heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears we, the founders and admins, have put into this website, you lose respect for our years of dedication over this?

I would expect much more from AFOLs and the members of this website; to have patience and respect for someone who has devoted so much time to this website as Lenny has. To have understanding for what life changes he is going through. I know first hand just about everthing Lenny is working through these past and future months, and I know just how much time can be sapped away so easily.

It's statements like these that make me question why we should continue devoting our time and energy into these contests.

--Tony

That my esteem sank doesn't have to mean I hate this site now, does it? I would still consider this the most professionally run, and friendliest site and forum I've been to (and I've seen a lot). Actually I think your calm and thoughtful response to my (possibly offensive post) just proves the point. Another admin could have said that I was an idiot and banned me

And I know Lenny took full responsibility but I still don't want to blame him personally. We all have lives, don't we? I rather questioned the fact that a person who was so busy did all this all by himself. Of course I know nothing about the details, so I shan't say more about this.

Frankly I don't see how my post was offensive but on the other hand English isn't by mother tongue and I might have expressed myself clumsily.

If I did offend any of you, I do apologize, but I've always thought that it's better to speak out instead of holding your concerns to yourself. A forum where no one dared question or speak out against the admins wouldn't be ideal either, would it?

And I am glad that you, Tony, answered me instead of just being mad at me in silence, since that wouldn't solve any problems. Talking about our concerns is important, and that's what we have forums for anyway, no?

And now on to some less pleasant matters.

Prince Imdol wrote:I quite agree Sava. Classic-Castle is my favorite lego site. I like it better than CSF in many ways, and, I love the story oriented program here. I feel that without Ikros, Glencer, and the story contest, the story forum may not exist. I know how much work it takes being an admin, (I am an admin on two other forums), and its A LOT of work. Deleting spammers, showing people to the right forum, making rules and TOS, making new forums, ect....So what if a relatively small contest is taking a while... family matters and personal stuff come far before hosting a lego contest. He did say that he had some things holding him back, and I am quite patient enough to wait and see winners. I say that Sava is right entirely, and a simple contest should not de-grade this forum.

EDIT: The way Lenney replied to a somewhat offensive post was quite mature. A new life coming into the Earth Mehedros, is far more impotent that your annoyance of a long wait.

P.I

That on the other hand, Imdol, was totally unnecessary. I do know how much work administrating a forum is (even though not as big as this one). And I do think that ones real life is far more important than an internet site. But that does not stop me from thinking that if a contest is delayed for a year something might have gotten wrong.

If you have anything else to tell me, Imdol, by all means send me a PM. I just felt I had to answer this publicly since that was how you attacked me.

Oh, and the name's Maedhros.

But of course, in the end you just stressed your concern just as I said that one should... you could have done in another way though...

Maedhros wrote:That my esteem sank doesn't have to mean I hate this site now, does it? I would still consider this the most professionally run, and friendliest site and forum I've been to (and I've seen a lot). Actually I think your calm and thoughtful response to my (possibly offensive post) just proves the point. Another admin could have said that I was an idiot and banned me

And I know Lenny took full responsibility but I still don't want to blame him personally. We all have lives, don't we? I rather questioned the fact that a person who was so busy did all this all by himself. Of course I know nothing about the details, so I shan't say more about this.

Frankly I don't see how my post was offensive but on the other hand English isn't by mother tongue and I might have expressed myself clumsily.

If I did offend any of you, I do apologize, but I've always thought that it's better to speak out instead of holding your concerns to yourself. A forum where no one dared question or speak out against the admins wouldn't be ideal either, would it?

And I am glad that you, Tony, answered me instead of just being mad at me in silence, since that wouldn't solve any problems. Talking about our concerns is important, and that's what we have forums for anyway, no?

I never thought you hated the site because of this, but I was troubled by the idea that your opinion of the website could be lowered because of it. Perhaps I misinterpreted what you meant from your post, but that is what I read out of it.

As for retaliatory banning, I believe that any admin of any website must hold themselves to the highest standards, and I have little taste for such actions. Disagreeing with or disapproving of the actions of the admins here at C-C is hardly against the rules, and therefore in my mind should never be subject to any sort of negative action. I take great pride in the reputation we've made for this website, which I'm sure is quite obvious.

But too much pride can lead to negative actions as well, and I am probably guilty of that.

In any case, there are bigger and better things to discuss. The contest results are in, and the winners should be congratulated.

--Tony

Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day.Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.

To give more of a background to this issue - this contest was my baby and I probably wouldn't have given over the main responsibility to anyone else. More prodding might have worked, but Bruce and Ben prodded me a fair bit. The key issue was my own prioritizing of my time, between school and baby, I just didn't include time for CC. In part, you can see this by how much I post, which is nil. All effects and purposes, I'm retired as an Admin.

Most of you guys don't remember CastleWorld before Classic-Castle, but that was a classic story of a single person keeping something from growing, developing, changing. Even if I dropped off the face of the planet and this contest was a bust, the site went on, the big annual contest was held and was successful, and lots of other things have happened. CC's success isn't tied to one person, even if one contest was.

The other side of it was that I had all the prizes and it was my job to ship them. I'm moving in a few days and to be honest, that prodded me to act more than anything else. That and the shame of it taking a full year to judge >_<

And now, a picture of my cutie baby boy River:

-Lenny

===
"The sound of laughter is like
the vaulted dome of
a temple of happiness. "
~-Milan Kundera-~